Human physical development is often monitored and tracked through the use of body measurements such as height and weight. Shortly after birth, a child's height (e.g., length) and weight are measured and recorded for many reasons, including for use as initial metrics or data points. Thereafter and as the child gets older, subsequent measurements are made of the child's height and weight and are compared against the initial metrics and other prior similar measurements to assess the child's physical development.
Traditionally, such height measurements have been made of an infant child through use of a tape measure, yardstick, meter stick, or other similar measuring device having markings thereon at regular units of distance and numerals associated with some such markings. To measure the child's height, the measuring device is generally positioned adjacent to the child when the child is lying in a prone position and with the top of the child's head located adjacent to the first marking at one of the measuring device's ends. A second marking nearest the bottom of one of the child's feet is identified and then the child's height is determined based on the distance between the first and second markings.
Once a child becomes able to stand upright, the child's height may be measured, for example, at a doctor's office using a medical scale adapted for such purpose. At home, the child's height may be measured by having the child stand on a floor near a wall and by making a mark on the wall corresponding to a horizontal plane passing immediately above the top of the child's head. Then, a measuring device such as a tape measure, yardstick, meter stick, or ruler is employed to determine the distance between the floor and the mark on the wall. The determined distance corresponds to the child's height.
Unfortunately, the foregoing methods of measuring a child's height require the use of a measuring device that may not be readily available at the time that a measurement is to be made. Also, if the child is an infant, only certain types of measuring devices may be safely used to measure the child's height as measuring devices made of metal or having sharp corners/edges might harm the child if the child is struck by such a measuring device in a vulnerable location. Additionally, if the child is an infant, the child's height is generally recorded in a notebook, on a form, or on a paper that may become readily separated from the child, misplaced, or lost.
Therefore, there exists in the industry, a need for a measuring device for measuring a child's height or a portion of a child's body that is particularly adapted for safely measuring an infant, and that addresses the above described, and other, problems, difficulties, and/or shortcomings of current apparatuses and methods.